2018 Oscar Shorts Weekend

Oscar Shorts Weekend

March 1-3, 2018

Our ever popular screening of Oscar-nominated documentary, live action, and animated short films in the run-up to the Sunday, March 4 Oscar awards ceremony!

Back by popular demand, a Saturday Night Double Feature will screen both the animated and live action shorts with a reception during intermission. Complimentary refreshments will be served during the documentary shorts intermission on Thursday and Friday.

As in years past, we invite you to cast ballots for your picks to win the Oscars. Ballots that correctly pick the winners will be entered in a raffle to win passes to the Trenton Film Festival, March 22-25, 2018.

Traffic Stop(dir. Kate Davis, US, 31min)
In June 2015, a 26-year-old African-American elementary school teacher named Breaion King was pulled over by a white police officer for a routine traffic stop. The incident escalated into a violent arrest, followed by a conversation about race in America between King and another white officer while he drove her to the station.

Edith+Eddie(dir. Laura Checkoway, US, 29min)
Edith and Eddie, at ages 96 and 95, became America’s oldest interracial newlyweds. Their love story is disrupted by a family feud that threatens to tear the couple apart.

Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405(dir. Frank Stiefel, US, 40min)
Artist Mindy Alper has spent almost all of her 56 years combating severe depression and anxiety, using medication, electroconvulsive therapy and psychiatry to help her. Art has always been her most effective outlet, with drawing and sculpture offering her the tools to give voice to her fears and mental battles.

Intermission

Heroin(e)(dir. Elaine McMillion Sheldon, US, 39min)
Once a bustling industrial town, Huntington, WV has become the epicenter of America’s modern opioid epidemic, with an overdose rate 10 times the national average. This flood of heroin now threatens this Appalachian city with a cycle of generational addiction, lawlessness and poverty. But within this distressed landscape, we see a different side of the fight against drugs — one of hope, as three women working to change the town’s narrative one person at a time.

Knife Skills(dir. Thomas Lennon, US, 40min)
Over 650,000 people are released from prison every year. Knife Skills follows the launch of Edwins, an haute cuisine French restaurant in Cleveland staffed by men and women recently released from behind bars to tell the story of re-entry, second chances and the healing power of fine food.

The Silent Child
(dir. Chris Overton, writer Rachel Shenton, UK, 20min)The Silent Child centers around a profoundly deaf four year-old girl named Libby who is born into a middle-class family and lives in a world of silence until a caring social worker teaches her the gift of communication.

My Nephew Emmett
(dir. Kevin Wilson, Jr., US, 20min)
At 2:30AM on August 28, 1955 in the most racially divided state in the country, 64 year-old Mose Wright tries to protect his 14 year-old nephew Emmett Till from two racist killers out for blood. Based on the true story of the 1955 murder of Emmett Louis Till.

The Eleven O’Clock(dir. Derin Seale, writer Josh Lawson, Australia, 13min)
The delusional patient of a psychiatrist believes he is actually the psychiatrist. As they each attempt to treat each other the session gets out of control.

Watu Wote: All of Us(dir. Katja Benrath, Germany, 22min)
For a decade Kenya has been targeted by terrorist attacks of the Al-Shabaab. An atmosphere of anxiety and mistrust between Muslims and Christians is growing. Until in December 2015, Muslim bus passengers showed that solidarity can prevail.

Negative Space
(dir. Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata, France, 5min)
Adapted from a poem by Ron Koertge, a tale about a boy who connects with his father by learning to pack a suitcase.

Lou
(dir. Dave Mullins, US, 7min)
A Pixar short about a lost-and-found box and the benevolent monster within.

Revolting Rhymes
(dir. Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer, UK, 29min)
Based on the much-loved children’s book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake, Revolting Rhymes takes the classic fairy tales of Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, and The Three Little Pigs then mixes them together and serves them with a mischievous twist.

Garden Party
(dir. Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon, France, 7min)
In a deserted rich house, a couple of amphibians explore their surroundings and follow their primal instincts.

Playing with additional films commended by the Academy: Lost Property Office, Weeds, Achoo

Negative Space
(dir. Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata, France, 5min)
Adapted from a poem by Ron Koertge, a tale about a boy who connects with his father by learning to pack a suitcase.

Lou
(dir. Dave Mullins, US, 7min)
A Pixar short about a lost-and-found box and the benevolent monster within.

Revolting Rhymes
(dir. Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer, UK, 29min)
Based on the much-loved children’s book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake, Revolting Rhymes takes the classic fairy tales of Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, and The Three Little Pigs, then mixes them together and serves them with a mischievous twist.

Garden Party
(dir. Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon, France, 7min)
In a deserted rich house, a couple of amphibians explore their surroundings and follow their primal instincts.

Playing with additional films commended by the Academy: Lost Property Office, Weeds, Achoo

The Silent Child
(dir. Chris Overton, writer Rachel Shenton, UK, 20min)The Silent Child centers around a profoundly deaf four year-old girl named Libby who is born into a middle-class family and lives in a world of silence until a caring social worker teaches her the gift of communication.

My Nephew Emmett(dir. Kevin Wilson, Jr., US, 20min)
At 2:30AM on August 28, 1955 in the most racially divided state in the country, 64 year-old Mose Wright tries to protect his 14 year-old nephew Emmett Till from two racist killers out for blood. Based on the true story of the 1955 murder of Emmett Louis Till.

The Eleven O’Clock
(dir. Derin Seale, writer Josh Lawson, Australia, 13min)
The delusional patient of a psychiatrist believes he is actually the psychiatrist. As they each attempt to treat each other the session gets out of control.

Watu Wote: All of Us(dir. Katja Benrath, Germany, 22min)
For a decade Kenya has been targeted by terrorist attacks of the Al-Shabaab. An atmosphere of anxiety and mistrust between Muslims and Christians is growing. Until in December 2015, Muslim bus passengers showed that solidarity can prevail.